USDA Secretary Says Kansas Food Safety Agency Terminations Were Part of ‘Imperfect Process’

By Morgan Chilson

TOPEKA — The firing and rehiring of federal workers at the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan was part of an “imperfect process,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said Wednesday.

Rollins responded to questions from U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, at a U.S. House Agriculture Committee hearing. NBAF conducts high-level research of animal pathogens, zoonotic diseases, which are diseases that pass from animals to humans, and other issues that affect food safety.

“It’s the nation’s first bio-safety level 4 lab for livestock. It was built to protect us from the worst animal disease. I understand that 28 employees were fired on a single day, and then later, some of those firings were walked back,” Davids said. “I’m curious. Were the firings a clerical mistake or did someone have second thoughts about the initial decision to fire these specific people?”

Rollins denied there were firings, calling it instead a “probation period” from which all employees were brought back. Davids persisted, asking why any NBAF or food safety employees would be on the “chopping block” in the first place because of the important role they play in protecting the country from severe animal disease.

“It clearly was an imperfect process and one that we moved to rectify within hours if not days,” Rollins said, adding that maintaining a safe food supply is a priority of the administration.

U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minnesota, told Rollins the committee is concerned about whether the farm bill will pass and about how Department of Government Efficiency cuts are affecting farmers nationwide.

“I’m genuinely concerned that under this administration, agricultural policymaking has become more partisan and polarized,” Craig said. “This reckless push to cut nearly $300 billion in funding to a title of the farm bill, instead of prioritizing getting a 12-title, five-year farm bill across the finish line is of particular concern of this committee, and it has put the bipartisan farm bill in jeopardy.”

Craig listed high input costs, bird flu concerns, food bank defunding, tariffs causing global markets to be lost, removal of ability for schools to buy local farm products, and more as issues.

She did not ask a question, and Rollins did not comment on the farm bill.

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